The son and I had a great ride today. Wow, what great weather. did what we called the river run (MO 224) from Napoleon to Lexington, stopped at the Spotted Pig for lunch (The Heist was closed), then took the long way back home north of the river.

Good times...

that's a fun run.

we do the same running through Bates City (I think) ; F hwy (I think lol) north, and pick up that run along the river, then cross over the river and make our way to excelsior lunch at Wabash.

:clap:

I've done that run and ate at the pig with KC Wolfman

Once the early summer, we all need to get together for a ride... Start with breakfast somewhere, ride for a while, lunch, and just a great time...

The son is learning the various brotherhoods, and enjoying them all.

Heck yeah


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So I needed a new hobby, and decided to go with motorcycles!

I signed up for the new rider course next week.

Any recommendations on riding gear I should get, especially for summer time?

Helmet

Good gloves and helmet at a minimum.
I rarely ride without gear, and by gear I mean pants, boots, helmet and gloves.
For bigger rides I wear a jacket with armor and armor pants.

I take it you are a beginner?
Stay alert my friend. Roads are dangerous these days with distracted drivers.

Riding gear can be expensive, but worth it in my opinion. I buy used stuff sometimes. Join this forum and go to the flea market/gear section.

https://www.advrider.com/f/forums/ge...f-you-wear.54/

If it's anything like the course I took when I started they wouldn't even let you get on a bike without boots that covered your ankles, gloves, a jacket, and a helmet. They didn't make you wear more than jeans for legs though, just needed to be covered.

I would recommend getting leather and not the textile stuff. There's a reason why professionals wear leather and its required for tracks. It sucks to wear during the peak days of summer but it wont melt away if when you go down.

If you do get textile because its cheaper and not as hot to wear in the summer, at least get the shit that has reinforced armor for all the high impact areas.

And something to plug your ears. If you want to be legal then just get plugs. I started wearing in ear headphones under my helmet and listening to music, which is illegal in Illinois but **** it - cant hear shit but wind anyways, on a low enough volume that I could still hear cars if I needed to but kept my ears from bleeding because of wind noise, not literally but its way too ****ing loud and I dont care how quiet companies claim their helmets to be.

Sweet!

dress for the slide, not the ride.

I'm riding later today.

I passed my motorcycle class this weekend at Rawhide Harley-Davidson in Olathe!

Can't recommend it enough to any noobs wanting to learn how to ride.

https://www.rawhideharley.com/riding-academy/

Ok CP Motorcycle folks. Anybody have any opinion on KTM motorcycles?

They are certainly more affordable than some of the other options in the beginner sportbike class, but is a few bucks saved worth it over a Honda/Kawasaki, etc.?

Specifically, here is what we are looking at:

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Thank you in advance for any comments/suggestions.

Take the MSF course first, that goes without saying.

KTM is a quality marque with a good reputation.

Traditionally the negatives of a bike like this for a beginner would be common to sportbikes. It's not going to be comfortable for taller riders. I dealt with it, but for longer rides it's not great.

With lowish bars (though not as low as some from the looks of it) and a short wheelbase, the steering is also going to be pretty snappy and not very forgiving of beginnerish inputs. If you are in a younger age bracket, you might find the insurance rates to be uncomfortable as well.

Usually, you would expect a single-cylinder bike to shake quite a bit at idle, and not be as smooth riding as a parallel twin or an inline 4 would be. I have some time on 90 degree twins (SV650, RC51) and I didn't find those too disturbing, but I can't speak to this one. You'd expect the torque to be good relative to its displacement.

Another thing to consider is that if the bike ends up sideways that fairing will be expensive to replace, so you might want to see if frame sliders are available for it.

I have been out of the saddle for a few years now and it's interesting to see entry level bikes come with traction control and ABS now.

Looks great and does makes me miss the R1 :D

Thanks for all the feedback!

Just got a new bike. Triumph Bonneville Bobber. 100% impractical but a lot of fun. Just hope we have good weather this summer so i can ride.

https://www.triumphmotorcycles.com/m...er/bobber-2023

Nice purchase! I really like Triumphs. I owned a 2011 Tiger 800XC and it was a bullet proof Hinkley machine. I sure do miss that sound.
Keep us posted on this.

Nice! Have fun. What color did you choose?

I got the stealth edition with a gorgeous deep purple. Looks almost black but in the sun the purple really comes out.

I had a Triumph Rocket III, my wife saw it at the dealership and liked the looks of it. It only took one ride on it that was over an hour and a half to not want to be on that bike again. She prefers my Yamaha FZ1 as it is an upright sport tourer.

I love motorcycles, I have ridden almost everything and currently have 3 bikes in the garage and two in the travel trailer for the racetrack. I accept that I have a problem but I do not go to meetings for it!

Have fun and enjoy your new bike!

Thanks. What made you not want to be on the Rocket? Also, it sounds like you collect motorcycles like I collect guns and fly rods. Accepting you have a problem is the first step.

I somehow missed this post as I was riding my KTM in Utah dirt in September 2023.
I have the KTM 390 Adventure. It has the same motor as a RC 390 but on a different platform.
I've really enjoyed this little thumper. High Rev machine, light and nimble, perfect bike on the twisties. I haven't had any issues with it and currently got 20K on the machine. It is no slab eater by any means, it has its limitations. But it is the perfect machine for me to throw my fly rod on and hit the gravel roads of Northeast Iowa so I can trout fish. I don't find the motor at higher speeds (75+) to be to vibratory. Easy motor to work on and the bike out the door was less then $7K. I would recommend.

New tires, fresh coils, new riding season.

:rockon:

Just went to my friend’s sister’s funeral. Inexperienced rider, hit gravel.

Wear your helmets.

Have friend selling his Indian. Im not a bike guy but its a pretty machine

Sweet ride!
How much riding can you actually do in Alaska? Seems to me it would be too cold most of the year.

You don't need therapy. Riding IS therapy. :thumb:

That's sad. I do wear a helmet.

About put mine down this morning just pulling out. I back out of the garage and past the concrete driveway and down into the gravel part and the grass coming up through the gravel had some dew. I hit the throttle a bit and about wiped out. Riding isn't for everyone. :huh:

For me, it's more about being aware of your surroundings. Lots of idiots in cars out there not paying attention to the road.

I am bummed do to a hip issue and can't ride anymore. Working on selling my scoot currently.

Riding season is roughly now through about the end of September. When the sun’s out it’s great but the last couple of summers have been chilly and rainy, really limiting riding time. While you should always wear a helmet, it’s really important up here. It’s too cold for salt to melt snow in the winter so DOT uses gravel for traction. Even our paved roads can have gravel from the winter. So not only do you have to be careful about the gravel, every windshield up here has chips and dings from rocks that get trapped in tire treads of other cars and then are flung out. Getting hit in the head with one would be bad. Not to mention that our roads are bad because of freeze/frost cycles, moose and other animals, and general road hazards. Riding up here is not for the faint of heart. But on the other hand, I was riding some back roads a few years ago and up ahead I saw a family of foxes on the side of the road. 2nd time that’s happened. I pulled the bike over and just watched them run around.

Glad to hear you weren’t injured in your spill today. As you note, it’s easy to wipe out. Hope your bike wasn’t damaged too bad. Stay safe.

Went with the Ninja 400 in Pearl Blizzard White.

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Nice! It’s pretty amazing what comes standard on what they call entry level bikes. I bet that motorcycle is a blast.

You ever come to Alaska to fly fish, drop me a line. I’ll give you suggestions on where and when to go depending on the species. And if you want to rent a motorcycle, I’ll go ride with you.

Alaska is on my list! But so is Kamchatka lol. Would love to throw some mice patterns at those fish in the Kamchatka Peninsula.
Retirement is on the horizon so I appreciate the offer!